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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | NOVEMBER 2023 5 Message From The Board Happy fall y'all! This year has flown by so quickly. We are now in my favorite time of year. The air has a chill in it and pumpkin spice is everywhere and in everything. We can start having comfy fires and enjoy the season with Thanksgiving as the ending to autumn. This past year has included many changes to our community. We have entered into a contract to install solar at our three facilities. This work is currently on track to begin April 2024. Once in place, the HOA will have a consistent estimate of our electricity cost and can budget accordingly for the next 25 years. In addition to our solar project, we entered into an agreement to settle our construction defect lawsuit with the builder K. Hovnanian. We will have more information once the process in the courts is complete and we should see repair work begin in early 2024. Over the past several months, the Board of Directors has worked to complete a Strategic Plan that was initiated in the Community Planning Committee (CPC). This Strategic Plan will be provided to all residents in our annual budget that is mailed to each home in late November. Highlights will include both our mission and vision statements, along with all of our committee charters. A special thank you goes to Pat Wayne who donated her time and expertise in putting this together. She worked with the CPC to ensure we have an excellent working document for our residents. The idea is to provide this document every two years to keep the information current and relevant. Hats off to everyone involved from our committees, FirstService Residential, and our Communications Committee for their editing skills. As a reminder, the heat in both The Courts and The Lodge pools is turned off as of Oct. 31 each year. For anyone brave enough to utilize either pool and chip the ice away to swim, enjoy. For the rest of us the pool at The Summit will continue to be heated along with all three spas. Budget meetings are currently underway; the Board and Finance Committee are working to set the 2024 budget. Per Civil Code, the budget needs to be completed and voted on by the Board in the November meeting and mailed by the end of November. For the past five years the HOA has been setting the budget, we have balanced the budget to within one to two percent each year. This is an amazing feat when you consider we work with a $5.7 million budget. Many corporations would love to be this accurate! As of the September budget (the most current month as I write this), we were still at a net income of $146,272, meaning we currently are operating under budget. This number changes each month and should come out to a balanced budget by the end of the year. The Board, along with the Contracts Committee, in keeping with our fiduciary duty, issued Request for Proposals (RFPs) to several landscape companies. We received five responses back and evaluated the pricing, work to be done, and any incentives offered to determine which one would be best for our community. After discussions and reviewing a lot of material, the Board awarded the contract for 2024 to Park West. The Board all agrees that it is incumbent upon us to look at all contracts every three to four years and go out for a RFP. This keeps us, and our vendors, on our toes. The Board meets the second Thursday of each month at 1 pm in the Ballroom and we encourage everyone to attend and see the workings of the association. Per civil code, the Board cannot engage in conversation with any homeowner input. If you prefer to meet with the Board in a less formal setting, Meet with the Board is a more intimate setting where the Board can engage in conservation with you on almost anything you wish to discuss (exceptions include any issues currently in litigation). Meet with the Board is the third Wednesday of each month in the Ballroom at 2 pm. Thank you all for reading this long article; we had a lot to cover! If you have any questions or concerns, I can be reached at kathycravenbod@yahoo.com or at (714) 722-1301. Have a great month and be kind to one another. By Kathy Craven, Board Vice-President

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